Type composing apparatus



June 2, 1959 w. w. GARTH, JR 2,888,865

' 'TYPE COMPOSING APPARATUS Filed March 16, 1956 Fig. 2

I I Fig.4- 5 2 H2 Flg. l --24 INVENTOR.

WILLIAM w. GARTH, JR.

BY 1/ M ATTORNEYS TYPE COMPOSING APPARATUS William W. Garth, Jr.,Concord, Mass., assignor to Graphic Arts Research Foundation, Inc.,Cambridge, Mass, a corporation of Delaware Application March 16, 1956,Serial No. 572,028

2 Claims. (Cl. 95-45) The present invention relates generally tophotographic type composing apparatus, and more specifically toapparatus for projecting a given character to any one of a plurality ofpositions displaced vertically with respect to the normal base line ofthe type.

One may find numerous instances in the field of type composition,whether by photographic or metal type techniques, wherein it is desiredto print a particular character or symbol in a position either raised orlowered in relation to the base line upon which the characters arenormally aligned. Mathematics composition is perhaps the most obvious byreason of its common use of numbers, letters and other symbols assuperscripts and subscripts or the inferiors or superiors thereof. Evenin text composition one commonly finds the use of footnote symbols thatare raised above the line of text.

The operational problems raised by these usages in printing are to bedistinguished from the relatively simple vertical spacing of successivelines as in ordinary text copy. In the present case, by reason of thefact that the elevated or depressed symbol is usually not spaced fromthe base line by the full width of the leading employed, it isadvantageous and in fact in many cases necessary to provide for theelevation or depression of the character or symbol without resorting tothe operation of that mechanism employed in line spacing. When viewed inthis light the problems are indeed comprehensive, and they encompassother common forms of type composition such as organic chemistrynotation, music and certain other writing forms, particularly in foreignlanguages such as those of the Middle East.

An object of this invention is to provide means in photographic typecomposing apparatus for projecting a given character upon the normalbase line of type composition, or above or below it by a predetermineddistance, according to the desired function of the character, withoutdisturbing the normal sequence of successive character projections inthe line of type, and specifically without the use of the line spacingapparatus.

A further object, closely related to the foregoing, is to provide meansfor controlling the size of the projected character image, as well asits vertical alignment, in accordance with accepted usages in theprinting art. Thus it is common to employ a somewhat smaller point size,for a character used as a subscript or superscript, than would beemployed if the character were projected upon the base line and not as amodifying symbol.

At present, the methods most commonly used for setting mathematicscomposition involve the use of metal types composed either manually orby machine. Most mathematics composition is done in either 10-point or8-point sizes, the former for the body text and the latter for tables orfootnotes, with 5-point and 6-point sizes for the various modifyingsymbols. As a result, it is found that an adequate type case involves inexcess of 2300 separate characters. The operational complexitiesresulting from the need for such a large selection are commensurate withthe difiiculties encountered in composing the more complex foreignlanguages which have alphabets far.

greater in numbers than those of English and the other principal WesternEuropean languages. It is accordingly another object of this inventionto provide apparatus of a simplified form, yet which is adapted toaccomplish all of the ends normally required in mathematics composition.

With the above and other objects in view the features of the inventionreside in the provision of photographic type composing apparatusincluding a number of lenses disposed on a suitable support foralternative selection in projecting the characters according to theirnormal or symbolic function on to a sheet of sensitized film.

Another feature resides in providing projection lenses of variable pointsize, the point size of a given lens and the position to which its imageis projected being mutually arranged and'adapted according to a specificpredetermined function of the projected image, as for example as asuperscript or subscript or a superior or inferior thereof.

Other features of the invention reside in certain details ofconstruction and modes of operation that will become clear from thefollowing description of a preferred embodiment thereof, and from theappended drawing illustrating the same.

In the drawing,

Fig. 1 is a view showing the essential parts of a photographic composingapparatus according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is a view developed into a straight lineshowing a number ofcharacters as they appear on the matrix support, with the spacingsomewhat reduced.

Fig. 3 is a view showing a number of characters as composed in the bodyof a mathematics text;

Fig. 4 is a view showing a portion of a footnote in a mathematics text,the said footnote being appropriate in size and relative location of themodifying symbols for use under the text as shown in Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is an end view of the lens support taken on line 55 of Fig. 1.

Referring to Fig. 1, there is shown. an edgewise view of a continuouslyrotatable character matrix support 12, which may be substantially thesame as the disc member D in Fig. 11 of Patent 2,682,814 to Higonnet etal. The disc 12 has an opaque coating with each character formed thereinas a transparency,the characters being arranged in a circle about theaxis of a shaft 14. Thus the characters are brought successively througha projection position opposite a very fast intermittent flash device 16,in which position they may be projected upon a roll of sensitized film18. Mechanism is also provided for spacing the successive characterprojections in each line, either by moving the film or by utilizing thesliding optical system described in Patent 2,670,665 to Caldwell. Sincethe spacing mechanism forms no part of the present invention it is notfurther described herein. As described in said Patent 2,682,814, thetiming of the flash device 16 is such that the selected characters ineachline are suc-' cessively projected on to the film 18. The characterson the matrix support 12 have a common point size as illustrated in Fig.2. While only seven characters are shown for illustration, this numberof characters provides the equivalent of a considerably greater numberof characters for mathematics composition. This results from the factthat each character replaces many types in a conventional metaltypesetting machine. To this end there is provided a lens support 20having a number of selectable lenses disposed thereon. The support 20 ispivotally supported on a shaft 22, and has on its periphery a number oflocating holes 24 adapted to cooperate with a springpressed detent pin26 whereby the support 20 may be pivoted to any of a number ofpositions. For each of these positions there is a projection lens suchas 51. Each of the lenses on the support is adapted, when thus locatedin a fixed position opposite the projection position of the characters,to form its image of the projected character in the same image plane aswould each of the other lenses if brought to this same fixed position.In other words, regardless of which lens is selected, it forms its imageof the character in the projection position in focus upon the film 18. 1

The lenses are designated by reference characters in Fig. 5 according tothe point size and function for which they are intended. The firstnumber represents the point size in which the image formed by the lensis projected on to the film 18. The number following the dash representsthe position of the base line of the character image with respect to theposition, that is, the normal base lineof composition. The normal baseline is the line through the lowest extremity of the character H in Fig.3. Thus with the lens -1 the image is projected in 5-point, in theposition of the character 1 in Fig. 3. The number 1" is a superior to asuperscript with its base line approximately 90 percent above thestandard base line.-

The number 2 in Fig. 3 is projected by a lens 6-2 in 6-point size, andis a superscript, the base line of which is approximately 65 percentabove the standard base line.

The number 3 is projected by a lens 5-3 in S-point, being an inferior toa superscript, the base line of which isapproximately 50 percent abovethe standard base line.

The number "4 is a superior to a subscript, being projected by a lens5-4 in 5-point, with its base line approximately 5 percent abovethestandard base line.

The character TS. is a subscript, and is projected by a lens '6-5 in6-point size, with its base line approximately 20 percent below thestandard base line.

The. number 6 is an inferior to a subscript and is projected in S-pointsize by a lens 5-6, with its base line approximately 35 percent belowthe standard base line. In Fig. 5 a dot-and-dash line 25 has been drawnto represent the locus containing the optical axes of all lenses thatproject their images in the "0 position, that is, directly on thestandard base line of composition. It will be observed that sixadditional lenses on the support 20 are adapted to project theircharacters in the "0 position. By means of these lenses it is possibleto project characters the lens -0, the character H of Fig. 4 isprojected by the lens 8-0; and the superscript "3 of Fig. 4 is projectedby the same lens 5-3 which projects the character "3 as an inferior tothe superscript "2 in Fig. 3. Similarly, the number "6 has the functionof a subscript, although the same number in the body of the text,projected by the same lens 5-6, serves as an inferior to the subscript 5It will be obvious that the foregoing methods and apparatus providingmultiple uses for each of the charac ters on the matrix disc necessitatethe employment of suitable type faces that can be enlarged or reduced asdescribed, and positioned for use as modifying symbols,

- in the art may readily devise various other forms of type I respect tothe base line of type.

composing apparatus similar to that described for the composition ofmusic, chemical formulas, or certain foreign languages based upon thesame or similar problems of positioning the characters, notes or symbolswith Therefore such other forms and modifications of the describedapparatus and the relationships of the parts that would adapt thecomposing machine to these uses are within the spirit and scope of theinvention.

Having thus described the invention, I claim:

' 1. In photographic type composing apparatus, the combination of asupport for a number of characters of text to be projected includingmeans to present a selected character in a fixed projection position,means to illuminate the selected character, means to support asensitized in point sizes 6, 8, 10, 14, 24 and 36, as designated by thesymbols 6-0, 8-0, 10-0, 14-0, 24-0 and 36-0. .In this discussion theterm point is used in its commonly accepted sense as referring to adistance of 0.013837 inch, or approximately of an inch.

Normal mathematics composition requires only" 10- point characters inthe body of the text with S-point superiors and inferiors and 6-pointsuperscripts and subscripts. In such text, the point size of footnotesand tables is ordinarily 8-point for the text and S-point for thesuperscripts and subscripts. (Superiors and inferiors are ordinarilyavoided in footnotes wherever possible, due to the difiiculty of readingthem with case.)

Fig. 4 illustrates how the same lenses used for projecting thecharacters of Fig. 3 can be used for composing a footnote. Thus, whilethe H of Fig. 3 is projected by sheet, a movable support bearing aplurality of projection lenses, and registering means associated witheach lens on the support to hold it in a predetermined position forprojecting the illuminated character on to said sheet, the lensesproviding differing magnifications and being adapted to project theimage on to positions of difiering vertical displacement on the sheet,said magnifications and positions having a predetermined, fixedcorrelation.

2. In type composing apparatus, the combination of a rotatable lenssupport adapted to be pivoted about a fixed axis therein, a number ofprojection lenses supported by the support about said axis, means tosupport a selected character in position for projection, and registeringmeans for each lens associated with the lens support and operable tohold the lens in a predetermined operative position, said lenses havingtheir optical axes at diiferent distances from said fixed axis and beingadapted when in operative position to form difierent magnifications ofthe projected image in a common plane.

Spooner Dec. 31, 1901 Walton June 20, 1933

